Hollywood revives the virgin bride

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Tom Cruise's latest love, Katie Holmes, has vowed to stay chaste
until she weds, but how much of it is PR spin to promote their new
films? Kevin Airs investigates.

Life must be tough for Katie Holmes, the new virgin queen of
Hollywood.

In Sin City, few will wait until the wedding night to consummate
their passion. That casting couch legend didn't just procreate
itself, after all. And hey, in the disposable world of show biz,
the other person might not be famous the next morning, never mind
the day of a wedding months later. It's just unthinkable to wait
that long.

But not for Holmes, 26. She has taken a solemn vow to stay a
virgin until her honeymoon.

She could have dodged all the bedtime bother by dating a
notorious closet homosexual and have him declare his undying love
for her. Instead, she chose to fall for testosterone-charged action
man Tom Cruise, 42.

It seems her life is full of little paradoxes like that. She's
daddy's little girl who pledged to keep herself pure until married,
yet graphically acted out losing her virginity in a teen soap.
She's the girl who literally blushes at the mere mention of the
word "penis", but strips off to a G-string for a film.

And when she was just four years old, she saw some bloke running
around in his underdaks in a movie and wanted to marry him. Fast
forward 21 years and she's engaged to someone else when she reveals
that first film-star crush.

Within months, the wedding's off, she's summoned to the office
of the bloke in the underdaks - and suddenly she's dating Tom
Cruise, 16 years her senior. The paradox is that she once said she
could never date an older man.

Days later, he's made a monkey of himself on national TV while
she mouths "I love you" across the studio at him. The couple even
have their own Bennifer-style nickname - TomKat. Now he says he has
to discuss wedding plans with Holmes. Gosh.

Coincidentally, they both have major movies - Holmes in
Batman Begins and Cruise in War Of The Worlds -
coming out this month.

"I couldn't be happier," she said at the premiere of her movie
this week. "I am so happy. He's the most amazing man in the
world."

And Cruise is equally fawning: "I'm in love! It's something that
has happened, and I feel I want to celebrate it. I want to
celebrate her. She's a very special woman."

Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between a fairytale
come true and Hollywood myth in the making. Sometimes it's not,
though. And apparently show biz fans aren't convinced. A recent
poll by People magazine in the US found 65 per cent of
readers reckon it's all a publicity stunt.

"Right now, the public think it's all just a bit too good to be
true," says People's star watcher, Julie Jordan. "It's
unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. No celebrity has
behaved like this before."

Katie Holmes in Batman Begins.

So who's being taken for a ride here? Us, Katie or Tom? And who
the hell is the real Katie Holmes?

Is she just in Cruise's control, letting him manipulate the
media for them both?

Certainly, Holmes does appear to be almost too good to be true.
In fact, she defines "goody-two-shoes".

"Unlike some actresses, Katie's talent is unencumbered by having
a drug habit and a history of 19 ex-boyfriends," says Stephen
Gaghan, who directed her in the 2002 movie Abandon.

Born two months premature on December 18, 1978, in Toledo, Ohio,
the youngest of four sisters and a brother, Holmes grew up very
close to mum, Kathy, and ex-basketballer turned lawyer dad, Martin.
"If they even yelled at me," she says, "it would tear me
apart."

True to the script, she was taught by nuns at a strict,
girls-only Catholic school.

"Everything was about academics," she says. "In hindsight, I
think we missed out socially. We came out of school and it was
suddenly, 'Oh, my God! Boys!' When you get out, you're a little
socially inept."

While a teenager, Holmes says she collected Barbie dolls, went
to cheerleading practice, got straight A-grades and now-famously
made a pledge that she would remain a virgin until marriage.

"It's quite common in some parts of America, especially among
Catholic families and Republicans," says Australian sexologist Dr
Gabrielle Morrisey. "The pledge is usually taken in a spiritual
context of saving it until an act of marriage witnessed by God.

"But it is increasingly uncommon to find virgin women. Children
are exposed to sexuality far more these days and are developing at
a younger age. The average age for women losing their virginity is
now 16.

"And the hardest years for those taking this kind of pledge are
between the ages of 14 and 18. But if you can get past 18, it's
relatively easy to still be a virgin at 26."

While at school, Holmes's 175-centimetre height, perfect body
and innocent looks first led her to modelling in New York. But that
wasn't challenging enough for Holmes, who had deferred a place at
Columbia University.

"I wanted to be an actress, but I'm from Ohio," she
explained.

"I told myself, Get a grip! My dad had plans for me to be a
doctor, but mom knew it was something I wanted to try, so we got
dad on our side eventually."

Instead she picked up an acting agent, flew to Los Angeles and
landed a film role in The Ice Storm. She followed that with
a major role as Joey in TV teen drama Dawson's Creek - and
her first real romance.

For eight months, she dated co-star Josh Jackson who played
on-screen lover Pacey, until the strain of Holmes's virginity
pledge possibly took its toll. They claimed the split was over the
couple "heading in different directions" - despite continuing to
work alongside each other.

"Katie is very clean-cut," Jackson later admitted tersely. "The
wild Katie is still something any parent can be proud of." However,
Holmes was less sure of how proud her parents would be of the
show's climax in its final season when Pacey and Joey eventually
get it on for the first time.

Her family's reaction was shock. "I was hanging out at my
sister's house and we were just watching TV and I go, 'Oh, I forgot
to tell you - I lost my virginity on my birthday' ('cause we filmed
it on my birthday)," reveals Holmes.

"And I was like: Why are they [so shocked]? [It was] on the
show! With Pacey! And they were like 'Oh, God, thanks. Don't tell
mum and dad'."

Her topless movie nudity in The Gift, alongside Cate
Blanchett, showed movie-goers the smalltown girl was all grown up,
but still troubled her parents. "That wasn't really easy on my
family," she admits.

From there her career slowed down as she tried to break into
bigger movies. But her private life faced the ultimate challenge to
her virginal status after hooking up with teen sex-comedy star
Chris Klein from American Pie.

Their four-year romance peaked with an engagement - but ended in
frustration 14 months later when they announced in March that the
wedding was off.

And then Cruise control took over. A few months earlier, Holmes
had been quoted saying: "I think every little girl dreams about her
wedding. I used to think I was going to marry Tom Cruise." He must
have been reading his press cuttings that day as he got in touch
soon after her split with Klein.

Since then, their public displays of affection have astounded
everyone, especially Cruise's chimp-man act on Oprah's sofa. There
is no record of what Nicole Kidman and Cruise's kids, Isabella and
Connor, think of it (which is probably a good thing).

He's also reportedly convinced her to switch agents to the same
company he uses, and allegedly introduced her to his Scientology
mates, despite her Catholic upbringing.

But still the doubts remain.

"The public just aren't used to celebrities being so open about
their relationships and being so effusive," says People's
Jordan. "Cruise is normally so private.

"He had his great unveiling of Penelope Cruz, but this time is
different - he's even using the 'L' word already and the public are
just surprised and suspicious at how quick it has all been.

"I hope his love is genuine otherwise it will come back to haunt
him. No one will take him at his word again.

"True or false, though, it has certainly helped Katie. Not many
people knew of her unless they were Dawson's Creek fans. Now
you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't know who she
is."

Just in case anyone was at all worried, if the romance is real
there is good news for Cruise. Virgin or not, Holmes is probably
hot in the sack.

"Girls who defer intercourse can get up to all kinds of sexual
experimentation," says Morrisey. "Usually people have sex first,
then try to spice things up later.

"But people wanting to stay virgins will often learn other ways
to achieve satisfaction which can make them much more accomplished
lovers!"

No wonder Cruise is laughing all the way to the bedroom - or the
bank.

Batman Begins is released on June 16 and
War Of The Worlds on June 30.